Workers of Özşen Mining, operating under Kiremitçiler Group, launched a march to Kiremitçiler’s office in the Süleymanpaşa district of Tekirdağ for their wages, which have remained unpaid for three months. Although the gendarmerie and police repeatedly attempted to block the workers, the blockade was breached and the march continued. During the march, the police and gendarmerie intervened against the miners multiple times. In the footage shared by the workers, a riot police officer was seen slapping a mine worker. While the police violence inflicted on the miners drew widespread backlash, Kemal Yılmaz, an Organisation Specialist at Independent Mine Workers’ Union, stated, “We will not stop until the workers receive all their rights; we will maintain our struggle.”
THE BLOCKADE COULD NOT STOP THEM
On the 15th day of their resistance initiated for their unpaid wages, the Özşen Mining workers, organised under Independent Mine Workers’ Union, launched a march yesterday from the Tekirdağ Namık Kemal Service Station to the Kiremitçiler Group office in Süleymanpaşa. Despite the interventions and blockades they encountered, the workers completed their march and reached the Kiremitçiler Group office. Reacting to the police interventions by slamming their hard hats onto the ground, the workers chanted the slogan, “Victory will belong to the resisting miner.” The workers declared, “We will not turn back from this path without receiving our rights. If necessary, we will redirect our route to Ankara.”
Kemal Yılmaz, Organisation Specialist at Independent Mine Workers’ Union, stated that the workers and union officials went through challenging moments due to the interventions during the march. Emphasising that they condemn the police violence inflicted upon the miners, Yılmaz conveyed the events as follows: “Under normal circumstances, we were planning to start the march from the Namık Kemal Service Station at 10:00 in the morning; this was our aspiration. However, the security forces here, the police and gendarmerie, blocked our way. They tried to obstruct us by arguing that situations threatening our safety could develop if we walked on the road. Due to this obstruction, we had to wait there for nearly two hours. Afterwards, we decided to start the march from a different location and set off from there.”
Conveying that tensions rose frequently along the way due to the enforcement of a route outside the path they had determined during the march, Yılmaz said, “The moment the police intervened most harshly stemmed directly from their desire to prevent us from entering the centre and passing in front of the office. But in the end, we carried out our march in line with our own plan and went right up to the front of the office. This time, they placed the front of the office under blockade.”
THE STRUGGLE WILL CONTINUE
Stating that their persons and phones were searched multiple times during the march, Yılmaz continued: “Not only us, but the workers were also subjected to the same treatment. We absolutely reject this. Because there is a very serious grievance at stake here. If there is a matter of good faith involved, this good faith should not manifest as setting up barricades against us. Authorities should adopt a negotiator’s stance before the victims and utilise their powers to resolve this grievance. These interventions will not deter us before the workers receive all their rights. We will maintain our struggle so as not to leave all the rights that the miners earned below ground with their sweat, without seeing the light of day, to the companies.”
THE WORKERS’ DEMANDS
·Our dismissed colleagues must be reinstated.
·Unpaid wages must be paid immediately.
·Overtime pay unpaid since 2025 must be paid in full.
·The grievances of retired miners must be resolved immediately.
·Working conditions must be brought into compliance with occupational health and safety regulations.
·Threats, pressure, and intimidation attempts directed at workers must cease immediately.
IF WE ARE BLOCKED, LET OUR PEOPLE SEEK OUR RIGHTS!
On the other hand, the ultimatum given to three ministries and Yıldızlar SSS Holding by the workers of Doruk Mining, who have initiated a resistance for their unpaid wages, expires today. “If all receivables are not deposited into the workers’ accounts by 12:00, we will come to Ankara again,” said Başaran Aksu, Organisation Specialist at Independent Mine Workers’ Union, where the workers are organised. Aksu added, “Despite the obstructions, we have made our arrangements. We will enter from six different points to the front of the holding building tomorrow at 12:00. To our journalist, artist, and academic friends who follow us, to every political entity and union on the side of workers and labourers, to all our citizens whose hearts beat with us, and to our university and high school student friends: make a call to the front of the Holding building tomorrow at 12:00 from your own accounts.” One of the workers, Özkan Yüksel, made a call saying, “We have risked everything. If they block us and take us into custody, I invite our people to seek our rights in our stead in front of the Holding.”
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Madenciye bir tokat da polisten, published in BirGün newspaper on June 4, 2026.
Kaynak: BirGün